


Drabbles

by prophetkristy



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-13
Updated: 2010-09-22
Packaged: 2018-04-19 06:39:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4736282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prophetkristy/pseuds/prophetkristy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Various BSG drabbles and ficlets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Syllabic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years, then grad school. Gaeta arrives at The Bucket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [BSG-100]() challenge "Firsts"

The first time Ensign Felix Gaeta entered the CIC on Battlestar _Galactica_ , suspecting he smelled rust, he had to repeat his recent mantra. _Three years, then grad school_. Too many syllables to be _dead end_.

His fathers' excitement—legendary William Adama. The best hands-on opportunity in the fleet. Calculating bearings and jumps by hand. _You love math, Felix_. Also too many syllables.

Back straight, salute precise, Felix mentally stomped on the speculation that a console explosion had caused Adama's facial scars. The gravelly voice directed him to his station—as if he hadn't memorized the entire battlestar. _DRADIS_ —two syllables.


	2. Departed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS for "Sometimes a Great Notion"!

_Galactica_ is different without her grace and warmth.

Corridors, rec rooms, even Joe's are infused with a new flavor of despair. The CIC's glow has faded into futility. Hoshi worried Felix would lose it when Adama told him to take Dee's station. Not that he hadn't worked there before, bouncing between Comms, Tac, Nav. But the Old Man had specified her.

Felix can't banter with him, doesn't respond. He'd been on the edge since before the _Demetrius_ , but now there's only broken weeping in his arms, or—worse—stony silence. Hoshi doesn't like the changed look in his lover's eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [BSG-100](http://bsg-100.livejournal.com/7961.html) prompt: Changes
> 
> I know some people aren't going to miss Dee at all, but I love her as Gaeta's BFF (maybe more?)...


	3. Pertinacity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix won't let me into his head except in AU-land. SPOILERS for "Sometimes a Great Notion".

"When it comes to shooting themselves, you've got a damned incompetent crew," Cottle is telling Adama.

Felix tunes him out, cradling Ana's hand in his, against his forehead, closing his eyes against the bandages swathing her head, the bruising on her gentle face, the memory of her blood on his hands.

Impossibly, incredibly, the bullet declined entry to her skull, skimming underneath her scalp before exiting to split open her ear. No one had ever accused her of having a hard head before now.

_Things change now,_ he vows. _People love you. I love you. I'm not letting you go._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [BSG-100](http://bsg-100.livejournal.com/7961.html) prompt: Changes


	4. Music Drabbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS through the end of the series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the [shuffled timed music meme](http://prophetkristy.livejournal.com/181532.html):  
>  _1\. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like._  
>  2\. Turn your music player on and turn it on random/shuffle.  
> 3\. Write a drabblet/ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it’s over. No lingering afterwards!  
> 4\. Do ten of these, then post them. 

**1\. "Arioso," Bach**  
The Fleet may not have enough random musicians to make a full symphony orchestra, but a few small-time ensembles had been caught traveling when the Colonies were destroyed. Felix couldn't quite hide his smile when Dee gasped at the brass quintet's opening notes, but soon her companionship (usually nothing forgettable) was the least thing on his mind as he closed his eyes and let the soaring notes lift his spirit.

 **2\. "Fight for All the Wrong Reasons," Nickelback**  
_I just--You could do so much better, Felix. You deserve better._ Dee's parting words echoed in his head more than he was comfortable with. And yet, the work he was doing on New Caprica was important. Yes, even more important than making sure the Fleet didn't jump randomly into a star. And despite the fact that he knew better, whenever Gaius gave him that _look_ at the end of a long day, all the struggles and frustrations with the shortcomings of the President slipped away, and he couldn't help following him into the bedchamber behind the desk.

 **3\. "Crash Landing", John Williams (Star Wars Trilogy)**  
"How many planets can one Raptor crew find by accident, anyway?" Dee wonders over the whoosh of the showers in the background.

Felix chuckles. "I don't know, but what would we do without Racetrack and Skulls and their random navigational errors?"

"Yeah, but a swamp planet, really?"

"Crocodile meat isn't that bad, really. Tastes kinda like chicken."

"As long as it's better than pressed algae."

 **4\. "The Coulin," Leahy**  
Spending the day planetside had been just what Dee needed, even if Lee kept finding other things to do that she "wouldn't want to be bothered with." The sun had shone, watery though it was, and she cound enjoy the freshness of the air and let her imagination supply what the settlement might look like in a year or so, when brightly painted buildings could relieve some of the unrelenting grey. Aiding the mental image were the splashes of colour worn by the revelers in the dance square. Dee rested her head on Felix's shoulder as they swayed gently and allowed herself to dream.

 **5\. "Whitefall / Book," Greg Edmonsen (Firefly)**  
"Oh, Gods, I _love_ westerns!" Cally proclaimed, crowding next to Dee eagerly to examine the new book she'd brought back from the _Zephyr_. Dee met Racetrack's eyes over the diminutive mechanic's head and exhanged rueful glances. "Did they have any movies?"

 **6\. "O Holy Night," The Tiptina's (Studio 60)**  
Dee sighed and leaned her cheek against Lee's shoulder as he grasped her hand. The civilians had strung ragged electric lights across the hold, and a motley shoestring band in the corner picked through holiday tunes. A banner strung over their heads proclaimed, "All I want for Saturnalia is a Home."

 **7\. "The Fight," Graeme Revell (The Saint)**  
"DRADIS contact! Cylon Raiders at oh-oh-eight carom two-one!" Felix's voice rang out over the CIC, which abruptly sprang into action.

"Action stations! Launch the alert vipers and transmit emergency jump coordinates to the fleet," Tigh snapped.

"As ordered," Dee replied, adjusting her headset and relaying the instructions as Felix yanked the nearest phone out of its cradle and set Condition One.

"Weapons hold," came the gruff voice of Adama as he strode into the room accompanied by a slim platinum blonde and a confused-looking Baltar.

 **8\. "The Fields of Pelennor" Howard Shore (Return of the King)**  
"Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of silver trumpets?" a familiar voice spoke in his ear.

Felix opened his eyes and found himself standing--with _both_ feet--in the midst of a grassy meadow, surrounded by colors that were almost painfully bright, but which paled next to Dee's luminous smile.

Before he could respond, she drew him into a lingering kiss. "Come and rest."

 **9\. "Keep Myself Awake," Black Lab (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)**  
Felix was starting to hate the portion of his brain which insisted upon keeping track of what jump number they were on. He closed the clock and glanced over at Dee, whose exhaustion showed in every drooping line of her body. Idly he wondered whether the lab had any caffeine on the reagent shelf and if there were any risks to injecting the pure stuff directly into the jugular. He shook himself as Tigh ordered Dee to the upper level for a ten minute nap. No time to visit the lab, anyway; but if he managed to get the next jump calculated two minutes faster than the last one, he might be able to close his eyes for a whole five minutes this time.

 **10\. "Out of Love," Five for Fighting**  
Dee couldn't remember when she'd run out of wine, nor did she know how many times Felix had refilled her glass. Not quite enough to hide the look of pity in his dark eyes, but looking past him at Lee laughing with a group of Viper pilots at the bar--chief among them Kara Thrace--made her sway with the effort. He had dragged her here despite the smoke and the cover band playing the more boring selections of their repertoire and yet here she was with Felix...


	5. Rackmates can be worse than siblings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> George and other delightful bits of headcanon are from [bantha_fodder on LJ](http://bantha-fodder.livejournal.com/58534.html).

Felix stood in front of his open locker, scanning the contents quickly. His eyes were the only outward sign of his internal panic, thanks to years as Watch Officer in the CIC.

_Frak, where is it? I always put it in my locker! That's not just something you leave out unless you want your rackmates to know much more about you than anyone's comfortable with..._

Tapping his fingers in a staccato rhythm on the locker door, he cast his mind over the past eighteen hours.

_Did Louis...? No, that was two nights ago. Frak, frak, frak._

A little frantically, he started pulling things out of his locker and tossing them onto his rack--workout clothes, lube, dress greys, sheet music, trick handcuffs, threadbare extra blanket, running shoes. It didn't make sense for it not to be right on top, but he was starting to feel a little desperate.

Behind him, he heard a snicker.

"Leave something... _personal_ on your rack last night, Lieutenant?"

Felix whirled and found himself face to face with a smirking Alghee, who was idly tossing from one hand to the next--

"Where did you find Geor--where did you find that?!" It was all Felix could do not to swipe at Alghee's contraband.

Behind his privacy curtain above Felix's rack, Skulls burst out laughing, a disturbingly high-pitched sound to be coming from such a large (and apparently not asleep) person. "You named it George? Are you frakkin' with me?"

Alghee was doubled over, laughing so hard that no sound came out. Felix glared at him and let his tactical brain go to work on how to get his elephant back with a minimum of embarassment.


	6. Synepeia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 33 Minutes

Following the urgency of boots landing outside and Felix's warmth against her, Dee's puzzled by his indolence. "Not that I don't enjoy foreplay," she smothers a whimper at his patient fingers inside her waistband, "but remember I have duty in 40 minutes?"

"38," his baritone vibrates. "Time to spare."

She wants to tease about his sudden sexual self-assurance, but his wrist moves subtly, her trousers succumb to gravity, and his hands are underneath her panties.

Afterward, he helps her regain her breath and her clothing. "Time to spare," he smirks, eyes aglow from his own orgasm. "That took 33 minutes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Gaeta Squee [bingo](http://community.livejournal.com/gaeta_squee/466010.html?thread=3551834#t3551834)! 
> 
> the title is (hopefully) Greek for "punctuality". (www.kypros.org)


	7. Apologia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a cell on the _Astral Queen_

Felix Gaeta firmly stomps on the flinch that's trying to escape as he faces stony blue eyes and a leathery face wearing if not hatred, then the closest thing. A few feet away, Zarek chuckles, as if detecting a reaction Felix refuses to show to the furious Admiral. Felix spares his sometime partner-in-crime a glare for getting him into this, and clenches his fist a little more tightly around the rank pins biting into his palm. The chain-link separating him from his former CO has held hardened criminals for years, but he worries privately that it may not keep Adama from going for his throat.

"Zarek wanted me to have you killed," Felix tells him, hoping it's not obvious how much effort it takes to keep his voice steady. "But I just can't do this with bloodshed." _After the Quorum, I knew I couldn't control him._ Explaining himself is probably stupid, but he can't help it. "I'm sorry he's next door to you, sir, but maybe he can explain why we— **I** did this."

He's proud of how little his hands shake, putting the captain's pins in his collar, as he walks away from the two cells on the _Astral Queen_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Gaeta Squee [bingo](http://community.livejournal.com/gaeta_squee/466010.html?thread=3551834#t3551834)!


End file.
